Love Before Honor
by MissBerlin
Summary: Academia has a new King now, Hope Estheim. After his family was taken from him he had to take over. His caretaker Lord Caius has got him a bodyguard Noel Kreiss. What could possibly happen on a tale built on love, lies, and wrong choices? Made from a video done by Blue24601, take a look at the beautiful video


Love before Honor

_Play list:_

_Alone Again (no rapping) - Alyssa Reid_

_Hearts out to Dry - Dia Frampton_

_Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars_

_The Beauty and The Tragedy - Trading Yesterday_

_Coming Home pt 2 - Skylar Grey_

_Rue's Lullaby - Hunger Games cover_

_A Beautiful Lie - 30 Seconds to Mars_

_The Broken Ones - Dia Frampton_

_Wish you were here - Avril Lavigne_

_Love the way you lie pt 2- Rhianna_

_Asleep - Emily Browning_

_Final Fantasy 13-2 AU_

_Idea originally by: Blue24601 (as known on YouTube, the video this is made from is awesome!)_

_Pairings: NoelxHope, One sided YeulxCaius, SnowxSerah_

Waves lapped at shoreline washing away the fresh tracks left by a wandering young prince. The sun had begun to set behind the tall buildings of the city Academia casting the lands beyond in soft orange light. The young Prince paid no mind to the time, he merely kept a steady quick pace as he crossed the beach. That Prince was none other than Prince Hope Estheim, the very last of the Estheim line. The Estheim line was known solely for their intelligence and resilience when it came to keeping the people of the kingdom happy and safe. That very same family had held on to the throne for several centuries now, but it seemed like the Estheim line was coming dangerously close to perishing completely. The Lords of the surrounding lands were concerned about this problem since almost every one of them had a strong tie with the family and feared losing that tie to Academia if the last of the Estheim's was killed or didn't ascend the throne.

With Hope's guarantee that he would succeed the throne the problem of his safety continued to be an issue and as a result there was always a guard watching over him. Hope felt smothered being in the Academy feeling like he couldn't really be alone when he needed it so he did something about it. He made plans with his Captain of the Guard Lightning Farron so that he could travel to the ruins of the old city Oerba with the promise that he would at least take a Chocobo most of the way there. He could accept those terms and now he had some time everyday to himself so he could put up with the smothering. Hope knew they all meant well, but now it was going a bit too far.

"Your Highness wait you need to stick with me!"

Hope didn't even bother to glance over his shoulder as the young man around his age was right at his heels now, "Go home Kreiss I don't need the protection out here, I've got this under control."

Noel Kreiss was his name and he was only around because of Hope's caretaker Caius's constant headaches about Hope's safety and the complaints from the Generals about being so short handed. So this tall broad shoulder brunette monster hunter was following him around as his own personal bodyguard. He could have said he expected that and he wouldn't have been lying, his Assistant Alyssa Zaidelle had already warned him that Caius had been looking through candidates for this very reason. Hope just hadn't expected someone so young, Noel was even a year or two younger than him.

Noel still kept close behind him showing that if anything he was persistent, "I can't just leave you out here that would be neglecting my duty as your bodyguard."

"Its good to see that you have a sense of duty" Hope had stopped and finally turned towards the brunette, "but you also have to listen to my orders as well."

"I can choose to ignore an order if I deem it endangering your safety."

"Really….?"

Hope had to admit Noel knew his stuff and he had to give him a little credit for still sticking with him this long. Normally if Hope had approached a guard with that type logic they would have given in and let him be for a while until he had gotten over himself. So why was he different?

"Very well" Hope nodded gently, "just, please give me some space."

"Now that I can do" Noel crossed his arms over his chest, "now where exactly are we going?"

Hope pointed behind him farther down the coast line, "Not much farther down there are a city full of old ruins called Oerba, I go down there at least once every day so I know the way by heart."

"Alright then lead the way then."

The walk down the beach took only a few minutes before they were staring face to face with the ruins of Oerba. The city was full of sand and looked as if nothing could inhabit it at all, but on closer inspection you would find large quantities of monsters and even a few l'cie. So this little town was far from being empty. Most of the buildings were still intact even the ones that had been rusted over or looked architecturally unstable after so long of being left.

"Oerba, just like I remember it" Noel said like he was remembering something fondly.

Hope had stopped right at the edge of the coast line just before the water could wash up to his boots, "You've been here before?"

"Only once or twice," he replied stepping up closer to the water than Hope had watching the water rush around his shoes back to the sea, "back when I was still a kid I was a part of a group of Hunters. Oerba would be a refuge for us if night came before we reached Academia. Of course all of this was back before the rules were set in by Academia to help protect some of the species of monsters."

Hope asked, "You were apart of that traveling group of hunters?"

"Yeah, they taught me how to defend myself, and live out in the wild."

"Interesting."

Hope wasn't just pretending to be interested, he was actually quite interested. He wondered how well Noel would hold up against someone of his Guard's caliber or how he would hold up with Lightning.

"I'm boring you aren't I?"

"No," Hope shook his head, "you aren't I was just thinking."

Noel looked over his shoulder at him and chuckled lightly, "Big shocker."

Hope shot him a look of slight annoyance, "You hardly know me, don't go making assumptions."

"Was my assumption wrong?"

Hope shook his head, "I can't say you were, thinking is something I'm good at."

"Then don't get so defensive about it," Noel said looking back towards the sea, "it's not like it's a bad thing."

"Yeah….."

The water was almost a deep black as the sun finally sunk bellow the city and the mountains just beyond. Stars were starting to light up in the sky and a cold wind was starting to blow in from the sea. Hope felt a slight shiver roll up his spine as the wind blew against him it was the signal that it was time to return to the city for the night.

"We should start heading back now" Hope announced, "Lightning and Serah will give us an earful if we don't get back before it gets too late."

Noel nodded facing him, "Lead the way I be right behind you."

Hope had been right as soon as they arrived to the Academy HQ not only had the older Farron sister given them a long lecture they also had to hear it from Serah as well. Noel had to admit she was a bit scary when she was angry….. The both of them were. Did it run in the family or something? Though he had to feel bad for Hope he had to also had to hear it from Lord Caius and Alyssa too, after Lightning and Serah he was pretty much free from anymore lecturing. After two more long lectures Hope finally returned to his room on the top floor of the HQ and found he wasn't alone. Laying on the couch in his living room area was Noel Kreiss his bodyguard.

"Noel?" Hope spoke up as he entered the room completely to find that Noel was asleep already.

"I guess Caius wanted him to stay near me just in case…. He could have just given him a room close to mine…"

Hope sighed once before a small smile came over his lips as he remembered Noel's words from earlier today. His ability to think wasn't a problem right? Well it was what got him into this mess, it was why he was left with so much work, but it was also why he got to meet Noel. He didn't exactly know if he'd call that a blessing or not, but he could be assured things would get a bit more lively around here now that he was here.

"If you're going to sleep on the couch at least use a blanket or you'll catch a cold," Hope left only briefly before returning with a blanket he had pulled from his closet, "I hope its not to thick for this weather."

He laid out the thick blanket over the brunette before going to leave only stopping to say, "If you get sick then you can't perform your duties, and that would leave me with a guard. I prefer you over the regular guards."

"Goodnight Noel."

A/N: Whooo! It took longer than expected just to get this up….. God of inspiration please strike me again for the next chapter! I know it's really slow for a first chapter, but hey I've got to start somewhere~

Anyways right now Hope's a bit apprehensive about his new Bodyguard at first but hey he's starting to get warmed up to him even if just a little. At least Noel would give him some space unlike actual guards~ Well Thanks for reading if you like let me know if I have any errors like spelling or I used to the wrong word please let me know so I can fix that on up!

Love ya guys~! And Blue24601 too for letting me use her idea and write this fic, I hope it's to you're liking Blue24601.


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